A newbie here whose circumstances miraculously empowered me to go to Burning Man at the (almost) last minute.

Can I just do the following to make a shade?

1. Sledgehammer 4 (or 6,8 or more?) spikes of 3' rebar halfway down into the playa.
2. Duct tape fasten 7' to 8' lengths of PVC pipe to the rebar, depending on what will fit in the rental car.
3. Cut a few vent holes --- to reduce the sailboat factor -- in a tarp, and reinforce the cut areas with duct tape.
4. Drill some holes near the tops of the PVC and bungee-ball fasten a tarp to the PVC pipes.

I know it is cheap and ugly, but I'm already pissing off Suze Orman by dropping work and using plastic to get to BRC. And I did see lovemonkey's brilliant design (http://www.chromatest.net/Lovemonkey/), but I'm not sure I'll be able to transport 10' lengths of PVC.

Forgive me if this is covered elsewhere (link, please). I've been on a Burning Man information-ingestion binge the last couple of days, but might have missed this.

Any feedback or pointers would be appreciated. Is there some obvious design flaw that I'm missing?

There's a LOT missing there! It might be OK but you run a great risk of the tarp tearing right off in a windstorm, and the poles will need guy lines to support them - they aren't gonna make it just taped to some rebar at the bottom and otherwise free-standing!

Always think of Playa structures this way: Could you build it on top of a truck roof, then drive it up the freeway in the fast lane and have it hold together?

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

I'd suggest taping EMT pipes to rebar instead of PVC. Six feet would get it almost above your head - maybe 6.5 feet? I wouldn't cut holes in the roof of the shade, but experiences differ. I've used flat roofs there with EMT and they held up, but we have rubberized fabric - your experience will vary depending on the fabric.

If you put golf balls or tennis balls in the corner of the roof (if it's flexible enough), you can duct tape those balls to the EMT to hold the roof without puncturing the fabric (do you get what Im talking about?).

Be sure to set your stuff up before you go to make sure it works off the playa. If it doesn't work at home, it's not going to work at BM.

You can use rebar and PVC by hammering the rebar into the ground, putting the PVC ONTO the rebar. For shade, rather than a tarp, get some actual shade cloth either from a place like Shelter Systems or from your friendly garden store.

What I do is zip-tie the shade cloth to the top of the PVC (putting it over the PVC) then tie rope around the top and anchor the rope to the ground with more rebar. It will flex with the wind though with cloth that breathes some it shouldn't take off in the epic fail kind of way.

Also recommended is the military style camo netting shade. You don't need it to be opaque or solid for it to provide some amount of shade. If you are doing it over a tent, make sure you leave space for air flow.

Knowledge is Power
Power is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac
Therefore Knowledge is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac

From one newbie to another, and not to state the obvious, there are 4 Home Depots in Reno and a Lowes in Sparks. That said, I'm still on the fence as to whether to haul the pipe from the East Coast, grab it in NV or snag it en route. It will come down to what/how I pack and what will be the most comfortable.

I've been trying to envision the steps involved in assembling the hut (I'm not clear on how the bungie balls attach to the PVC/tarp). Just so there are no surprises I'm going to pre- construct it this week, even if I elect to not haul the pipe they're less than $2 each, money well spent in lieu of winging it on the playa if I leave them home.

I'm going to do the shade flap as well, although I'm back in the market for a tent to put under it as the more thought I give it the more I'm second guessing this <$20 eBay "bargain":

If you can't fit 10' lengths of PVC tubing in your car, can you fit 5' lengths? You can build connectors for the 5' pieces out of 1.5' PVC, screw the connectors in place on site, and deploy the connected 5' pieces as the 10' pieces needed for the monkey hut.

I did this last year, and it worked just fine. I can sketch the idea better than I can describe it, so shoot me a PM if you need more detail.

You guys are amazing. If I ever have another plan for something -- career, love life, whatever -- I'm posting it here. Thanks for all the feedback.

Phil, I called 911 to ask if there were any EMTs available in BRC and they are all going to be busy. (Kidding. I googled and now I know.)

So I drove over to my Orange Box Depot and checked it all out. Turns out 10' PVC isn't as big and unmanageable as I'd thought. I think I'll be able to secure it well enough to the top of my rental car with duct tape, rope, and the help of the Lord Jeebus. At least for the drive from Reno. I hope they don't sell out.

And with Turtle's 5' back-up plan, I can always cut the pieces in half in the parking lot.

Sic Pup, I shall be with the orphans if they'll have me, and I'm glad I won't be the monkey hut pioneer there. Yay.

Dragonpilot, I want to see those pics but I can't view them through those links.

Just these additional questions (for now): is there generally a windward and leeward direction out there, or does the wind come from all directions? Should I just position the monkey hut so that I'm best able to view hotties walking by, or should it be in a certain orientation to account for the wind?

Thank you all for your feedback already. Mahalo gozai masu, as the Japanese tourists in Waikiki say.

If your going to vent the tarp, put 10" strips of Gorrila tape, and cut inside the tape. I use Tposts, which go nowhere! But are a bitch to pull if you don't have the right tools. PVC may work, dependimg on thbe size.....1 1/2" and more should be okay.

phil wrote:If you put golf balls or tennis balls in the corner of the roof (if it's flexible enough), you can duct tape those balls to the EMT to hold the roof without puncturing the fabric (do you get what Im talking about?).

Phil, I don't get it. Are you talking about sewing tennis balls into a fabric roof?

phil wrote:If you put golf balls or tennis balls in the corner of the roof (if it's flexible enough), you can duct tape those balls to the EMT to hold the roof without puncturing the fabric (do you get what Im talking about?).

Phil, I don't get it. Are you talking about sewing tennis balls into a fabric roof?

He's talking about attatching a ball to the end of the rod to round out the corner so it is not a sharp corner to tear the tarp.

Rebar, connectors, tarps, and bungee balls are all according to the original design. I cut the PVC pipes ahead of time with a PVC pipe cutter.

When we got to the Playa, I slid the 2.5' L x 1.25" W connectors over the pairs of 5' L x 1" W PVC pipes to make the 10' L x 1" W pipes used in the original. On each set [(2) 5' L x 1" W PVC pipes + (1) 2.5' L x 1.25" W connector], my Chief Scientist drilled four holes several inches from the join-- two on top, two on bottom (two on either side of the join). He used a cordless drill with, and I quote, "Whatever's one size smaller than 1/8."

Then, with a cordless screwdriver, he drove the screws in. He thinks they were about 1" L and definitely 1/8" W -- they stuck out the other end. Once we had the (6) 10'L pipes, we followed the directions as outlined. We did tie some rope from one end of the hut to the other, knotting around the T-connectors and anchoring to the center. We followed the instructions for a tent shade flap using the modification described above.

Since 2009 was our first burn, I can't say whether the winds were typical. The hut held up to the gusts, and never seemed particularly rickety.

just an fyi, and totally depends what kind of rental car you get, but I have a VW Passat and can fit 10' 2x4s inside the car, with the back seat folded down. They go all the way to the windshield, which obstructs my view of any passenger I may have, but it's totally doable. I'd go this route before I duct taped something to the roof of a rental car